The little boy peeks into the lounge of his grandmother’s Pretoria home. “I think he senses what we’re talking about,” Christelle Nagel whispers once he’s left the room.
Before long Theo pops his head around the door again, shooting a glance at his gran. The five-year-old is clearly very attached to her and it’s easy to understand why – she’s the closest thing he has to a mother now.
Christelle (48) and Theo are the only survivors of a devastating fire that killed three members of their family. Christelle lost her husband, Theo Sr (54), her daughter, Nicolene Pretorius (23), and her granddaughter, Leoné (2), when the blaze gutted their Centurion home in 2018.
